BEST AND WORST FOODS FOR SLEEP

We cannot deny the importance of a good-night’s sleep that promotes our overall health, make us stay active and enhance our mood… And believe or not what we eat before bed has a strong influence on our sleep quality.

8 simple ways to lose weight while you sleep

Foods that you've been eating all wrong

Now, here’s your chance to learn which foods you should or shouldn’t eat for an excellent night of sleep.

SLEEP SUPERSTARS

Tryptophan-rich foods

Dairy foods contain tryptophan- which is a sleep-inducing substance. Other foods are rich in tryptophan such as bananas, honey, eggs, nuts and seeds.

Whole grains

Whole-grain breads, pastas, crackers or rice combined with a protein like eggs, turkey or low-fat dairy may be the perfect combination for a pre-sleep snack because the foods containing carbohydrates help the tryptophan-rich foods get absorbed by the brain.

Cherry juice

A 2011 study published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that tart cherry juice aids a great sleep effectively. Adults drinking two glasses of cherry juice daily slept an average of 39 minutes longer than usual. Cherries are one of the few natural foods containing melatonin, a chemical that helps control our body’s internal clock. Try a small nighttime smoothie with a cup of concentrated tart cherry juice, half a banana and half a cup of soymilk (ice cubes are optional.)

Magnesium-high foods

Munching on magnesium-high foods like dark leafy greens, avocados and bananas may be just what you need to ease into dreamland. A study involving adults with insomnia found that magnesium had a positive effect on those participants’ sleep quality including the length of time they slept and their ease in waking up.

SLEEP STEALERS

High-fat foods

High-fat foods like chips, fried foods or ice cream should be avoided before bed as fat takes a long time to digest that will make the body awake or not well-rested throughout the digestion process.

Alcohol

Sure, a glass of red wine at night may make you feel sleepy, but drinking before bed might actually disturb sleep in healthy people. One study found that a glass of vodka with caffeine-free soda at bedtime increased the length of time women spent awake during the night by 15 minutes and also diminished the quality of sleep. Thus, be sure to cut back on nightcaps, enjoy no more than one drink a day for women and two drinks per days for men.

Caffeine

The effects of caffeine can be obvious and vary from person to person, but drinking caffeine-containing beverages too close to bedtime will keep you up at night due to its central nervous- stimulating property. Be sure to keep your caffeine intake to 200-300mg a day and avoid it close to bedtime to get maximum Z’s.